1. Field of the Invention
The present invention related generally to the field of computer networks and in particular, to transferring of voice information over frame relay in packet switching network environments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a networking environment where information, such as data, voice, video, audio and like information, is destined to travel from one remotely situated device to another device, two types of such networking environments may be employed: circuit switching network and packet switching network.
FIG. 1 shows conceptual views of both of these types of networking environments. A circuit switching network 10 is shown to include a first telecommunication device 12, which may be a telephone, coupled through a path 14 to a second telecommunication device 16, which may also be telephone. The coupling between the two devices 12 and 16, through the path 14, includes various equipment, 18 and 20, which effect transfer of the information being communicated through the path 14. The circuit switching network 10 is shown in FIG. 1 to demonstrate that when information is being transferred from a given source to a particular destination, such as from device 12 to device 16, the information will always take the same path, i.e. through the equipment 18 and 20.
In contrast thereto, a packet switching network 22 is shown in FIG. 1 to demonstrate that the information being transferred does not necessarily take the same path when it is transferred from one device to another. In FIG. 1, the packet switching network 22 is shown to include a first telecommunication device 24, coupled through a packet switching network structure 26, to a second telecommunication device 28.
The packet switching network structure 26 includes a plurality of network equipment, such as routers 30, 32 and 34. Information that is being, for example, transferred from the first device 24 to the second device 28, does not necessarily take the same path every time. At one time, such an information may take a path 36, which goes through the equipment 30 and 32 and when sent again another time, the same information may go through a different path 38, which includes the equipment 34. In fact, in packet switching networks, there is much equipment through which information may travel to get from one device to another. The path that information takes is in part a function of the intensity of traffic through the network. For example, if the devices 24 and 28 were telephone devices and there were calls being made during a time when many callers were initiating phone calls, the path that the voice information would take is likely to be entirely different than when the devices 24 and 28 transfer voice information during a time when there are not many callers accessing the system. An example of what the packet switching network structure 26 may be is the Internet, in which case, voice may travel therethrough to get from the device 24. In this case, examples of what the devices 24 and 28 may be are personal computers (PCs).
Thus, in circuit switching networks, the same path is used to transfer information and that path is apriori known, whereas, in the case of packet switching networks, the path that information takes is firstly based upon the availability of the equipment and circuits and secondly not a dedicated path or apriori known. Accordingly, transfer of voice information through the Internet is less costly than the transfer of the same kind of information through a circuit switching network. That is, in a circuit switching network, such as used by traditional telephone companies, each user is assigned a dedicated path whereas in an Internet environment, multiple users share the same path.
In a packet switching environment such as the Internet, since different paths may be taken for transfer of information, different amounts of time delay are associated with the transfer of data. For example, in FIG. 1, in the packet switching network 22, if the information being transferred between devices 24 and 28 takes the path 36, this may result in less delay than if the same information transfer were to take the path 38 since the latter is going through an additional router. As the path that information will take in a packet switching network environment is unknown, so is the delay associated with that path. Accordingly, information being transferred is first buffered (or temporarily stored) to account for the delay associated with the transfer of information.
When information is sent through a packet switching network environment, it is broken up into various packets and each packet is sent in a frame over the network. When all of the packets of the same information arrive at their destination, they are placed back together for use by the user. Data being sent in this respect is not much affected by the delay that each packet may experience because even if this delay accumulates to minutes, a user is not particularly disturbed to wait that long before receiving data. However, when this information is in the form of voice, i.e. voice sent over the Internet, the accumulative amount of delay experienced by the separate packets that are sent through the Internet is often times annoying to the users. For example, if one were to speak through a telephone that was coupled to transfer information through the network and would have to wait 10 seconds to receive a voice back from another user at the destination site, there would be much disturbance to the listener.
To account for this delay, prior art methods and apparatus have employed buffering techniques to store the information that is to be transferred in a temporary location while previous information is being sent through the network. On the receiving side, the information that is received is buffered while the user is listening to the information previously received. However, due to the buffer size differences between the sending side and the receiving side of the network, there, nevertheless, remains a significant problem with the delay associated with transferring voice information through a packet switching networking environment, such as the Internet, that has proven to be disturbing to users of this type of system.
There is therefore a need to maximize the performance of a system for transfer of voice information from one device to another through a packet switching network such as to avoid unnecessary delay experienced by users of the system.